Peter David's Blog, page 10

Freak Out Friday – December 21, 2018

Happy holidays. If you work for the federal government, as tens of thousands of people do, then there is a significant chance that ten hours from now, you won’t be getting paid.

As Trump prepares to jet off to, as Stephen Colbert referred to it, the Winter Kremlin, the Senate is desperately meeting even as I write this to find a way to avoid a shutdown. But hey, at least Trump said that he would own it. It will be a Trump shutdown. He said that to Pelosi and Schumer, he said it in front of a room of reporters, he said it on camera. Schumer grinned broadly as Trump flat out said the Democrats would not be on the hook for the blame. He would take it. All him.

“The Democrats now own the shutdown!” he declared two hours ago.

Because he lied. Again. He lies thirty times a day, on average. This was just another lie, from the most dishonest president in the history of the country. Despite the fact that Republicans are no more enthused about the wall than the Democrats–indeed, polls show a majority of Americans oppose it–he has attempted to foist all the responsibility onto the party that he swore, to their faces, would not be held responsible. Maybe Schumer was smiling because he knew full well Trump would go back on his word and they could throw it in his face.

And yet no one will care.

That’s kind of what I want to focus on here.

Trump lies so routinely, with such facility, that the Washington Post has had to invent an entire new category called “Bottomless Pinocchios” to cover lies he has told repeatedly. He lied from the beginning of his campaign, through to his election and to this day. He consistently denies wrongdoings, condemns the Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt” even though dozens of people have been caught and jailed because of it, still claims that three million fake voters put Hillary over the top, still condemns the stream of desperate refugees heading this way as being terrorists or disease carriers without offering a shred of proof.

And yet people still support him.

Let’s face it, if President Hillary Clinton had paid off a porn star to cover up her affair with him, she’d already have been impeached. Yet the same people who howl “Lock her up!” at rallies turn a blind eye to Trump’s activities. The religious right is perfectly fine with a man married three times who cheated on his wife with a porn star.

I mean, do his supporters understand that they’re hypocrites? That’s assuming they even understand what the word means. How can it be that they are so fixated on their causes such as preventing a woman deciding what to do with her body that they’re willing to stay on board with a man unfit for the presidency. A man with ties to Russia, who worships at the feet of dictators and strong men and wants to emulate them. A man who is destroying our alliances and condemns NATO, of all things. A man who drives his own party and his administration nuts with his inability to be depended on to keep his word about…well, anything. A man who can be so easily manipulated that when a bipartisan agreement puts forward a means of keeping the government open, he refuses to sign off on it because Fox News shouts at him about the wall he swore hundreds of times that Mexico was going to pay for.

Indeed, lately on Twitter when I’ve posted something critical of Trump, I get deluged by idiotic responses from people either spewing the Fox party line, repeating Trump’s falsehoods as if they’re reality, or suggesting I stick to comics. They dismissed out of hand the notion of thousands and thousands of people receiving no money for their jobs, claiming it would only be for a short while even as Trump states the shut down could be for a “very long” time. The fact that they’ll be paid retroactively means nothing if you can’t pay your mortgage or rent, utilities bills, or for food right now. Yet it didn’t matter to the responders who felt it was no big deal.

How can they not care that Trump lies? How can they not care that people will be suffering?

I think it stems from Trump supporters praising him because “he says what he thinks.” That’s the most common refrain. This may be why these people hated Obama so much. Obama always clearly thinks about what he says before he says it. He considers the ramifications of his words and determines how it will appear in cold hard print before he speaks. This is how a reasoned, thinking person acts before he speaks, and since Trump is neither reasoned nor thinking, and barely qualifies as a person, naturally he does the exact opposite.

It may well be that that’s the attraction. Normal people have to be careful about what they say because there are ramifications, especially in the current era of social media where one recorded instance of someone using a racial epithet can bring the world crashing down upon them. Yet whatever Trump says, whether he’s condemning Mexicans as rapists, describing black nations as being “shit holes,” or boasts about grabbing women’s genitals, winds up sliding right off him. He’s the 21st century Teflon Don. If a normal person lied and insulted as much as he did, they’d likely lose their job, their friends, their family. Yet Trump says whatever he wants, and yes, people get upset and angry and bitch and moan, but then we pass into the next news cycle and it’s all forgotten.

It’s not that they don’t care that he lies. They envy his ability to lie and not have to pay any price for it. Gary Hart got sunk in his presidential campaign for actions that, as far as Trump is concerned, would just be things he does on an ordinary day. He lives the life that they would love to have for themselves: the ability to say and do whatever he wants and not have to pay any price for it. That’s what they wish they could do, and as long as they can’t, they get wish fulfillment in watching him do it. Especially when he does it to Democrats, whom they despise beyond the pale because we care about things they don’t like…I dunno…rights.

Trump’s supporters live their lives based entirely on letting their emotions guide them. We’ve been listening to Mister Spock speak about the foolishness of living one’s life that way for over half a century, but the lesson has not sunk in. They think not with their brains, but their guts, just as Trump states he does and assures them that his guts know better than politicians, intelligence officers, and heads of state. The notion that they don’t give a damn about people going without salaries means that they have taken it a step further: they are emulating Trump’s example of not giving a damn about people. We know that Trump is that way because he’s a narcissistic prick, but they are emulating that behavior because it’s what their leader does. It’s a deterioration of the American spirit, and as long as Trump is in charge, it’s just going to continue.

PAD

A Rare Cowboy Peter Review for Aquaman

When Zack Snyder put a picture of Jason Momoa as Aquaman up on Twitter several years ago, modern day fans expressed confusion. “That doesn’t look anything like Aquaman!” they complained. The older fans immediately weighed in, stating emphatically, “No, that’s Peter David’s Aquaman.”

I’ve written a number of characters and put my own spin on them, but unless you’re looking at a picture of the Hulk wearing a business suit, there is no other character so clearly identified with me as a badass Aquaman with long hair and a beard. It’s so obvious a connection that DC not only invited me out to the premiere, but my name appears in the “Special Thanks” section in the credits. So basically everyone, up to and including the publisher, acknowledges that the version on the screen is my guy. (I fully expect he’ll lose a hand in the sequel.)

Consequently, I have to admit that I’m holding it to a higher standard than I do most comic book movies, or indeed most movies. I have a personal stake in this. Indeed, at the pre-party that I attended, Geoff Johns—who cowrote the story and was a producer on the film—came over and told me my run on Aquaman was what hooked him into the character, which I was very honored to hear.

So was it the best comic book movie ever made? No, that’s “Black Panther” (although I still have a stupid fondness for “The Phantom.”) Was it the best DC comic book movie ever made? No, that remains “Wonder Woman.”

But it’s definitely up there. Granted, the competition isn’t that stiff, but for me it was my second favorite (okay, maybe the first Tim Burton Batman is second, but only because I loved how fans groused about it for months and were then blown away by it when it hit the screens. Depends on the day and my mood.)

The fundamental plot of the film has already been spelled out quite thoroughly in the promos. It begins at the beginning, with Atlanna (a radiant and ass-kicking Nicole Kidman) washed up on the shore of a light house, kept by lonely Tom Curry (a digitally youthened Temuera Morrison). They get together and produce a little bastard (I say that because he is frequently referenced that way) who is destined to unite the surface world with the sub-aquatic realms.

That, however, won’t happen if Aquaman’s half brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson) has anything to say about it. Orm wants to wage war on the surface, and I have to say, despite the fact that he’s the bad guy and will use nefarious ends to accomplish his goals, he really does have a valid reason. We’ve dumped garbage into the ocean, polluted it with oil spills, and climate change is killing fish. So when he says the war has already begun, he honestly has a point.

Nevertheless, Mera (Amber Heard) wants to make sure that doesn’t happen, and conscripts Arthur into aiding her. Helping her in this endeavor is Vulko (Willem Dafoe, whose favorite role of mine remains Tars Tarkas in John Carter) who trains Arthur from an early age, preparing him for this eventuality.

Thrown into the mix is Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his presence is a little disturbing. The reason I say this involves a spoiler, but since it’s only ten minutes into the film, I’m going to blow the reveal. The submarine we saw Aquaman breaking into in the trailers? The Manta was hijacking it. In the ensuing battle, as the sub is sinking, Manta’s father winds up trapped beneath a ton of rubble. Manta begs an escaping Aquaman to aid him, which he could do easily. He’s strong enough to lift it off with one hand.

Aquaman’s response? “You killed innocent people. Let the seas judge you.” And he leaves.

Holy crap.

The hero of the film ignored someone begging for his help and left him to die. God knows we’ve seen heroes kill enough times in superhero films, but abandoning someone begging for their help? I’m pretty sure that’s unprecedented.

Now me, I loved that. It went against the standard trope/cliché of the hero always doing good. It also provided Manta with a solid reason to despise Aquaman. If it was good enough for Inigo Montoya, it’s certainly good enough for Manta. Others, however, may feel differently, believing that Aquaman invalidates his claim to heroism in the beginning of the film. I can understand that point of view. On the other hand, Aquaman repeatedly doesn’t consider himself a hero, and it gives him a character arc to grow into. It certainly beats having a father who keeps telling him to keep his head down and not get involved with stuff.

So his actions in leaving Manta’s father to die was a surprise to me.

It was one of two (the second occurs much further in and I won’t spoil it.) I was surprised twice in the film. And that was the problem I had.

It was very well acted. The special effects were great. If you enjoy H.P. Lovecraft (referenced early on in a book on Curry’s table) you’ll love the third act.

But there were no surprises.

From the beginning of the film, I suspected what one of the final scenes was going to be. And every step along the way, I knew what every major plot point/beat was before it happened. Whenever things got quiet, and whenever a new story point was explained, I knew something was going to blow up. Boy, did things blow up. I haven’t seen that many explosions since the first Incredibles. “There’s something you should know.” “Really, what?” “This.” Exposition. Boom. No one walks through any doors. No one knocks, announces themselves, gives warning, shouts something threatening. You find out they’re there because the wall or ceiling just erupts. (Atlanna kills half a dozen guys in the first five minutes. Hmm. I wonder what Tom Curry did with the bodies? Toss ‘em in the ocean, I guess.)

It might be because I’ve been a full time writer for over thirty years. It might be because I wrote Aquaman for four years. But honestly, pretty much everything that happened, I saw coming. It was a by-the-numbers comic book movie. Which is, y’know, fine for a summer popcorn flick, except it’s December. The simple fact is that Marvel films have raised the bar for expectations. A few years ago, this would have been mind blowing. Now it’s basically on par with Ant-Man. They’re entertaining films and, especially in Aquaman’s case, should be seen on the big screen (the climactic battle sequences are fantastic and will likely be incomprehensible on a standard television set.) It’s likely going to make a butt load of money and will ideally kick Momoa’s career to the next level because he’ll have proven he can carry a big budget film.

I just really wish there had been more surprises such as Aquaman’s refusal to save Manta’s father, because that genuinely startled me. Startling me with explosions is not the same thing.

Although the best thing to come out of the film was daughter Caroline’s comment on the closing credits. “No animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture. We did, however, go through twenty three Jason Momoas.”

George H.W. Bush

I have to be honest: I never trusted H.W. He was the head spook under Ford, and despite his lengthy track record of various political assignments, I didn’t trust someone who had experience in keeping secrets and thus I feared wouldn’t exactly be transparent.

On the other hand, every president who passes away from this point on will have to face one question: Was he better than Trump?

Was George Sr. better than Trump? Good lord, yes. He fought for this country as an aviator, he believed in the system, and he understood the rule of law. Trump doesn’t. H.W. will be missed.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – November 30, 2018

Robert Mueller is closing in on Trump, and Trump knows it. That’s why for something like four straight days he railed on about Mueller, falsely claiming that an investigation which has nailed over two dozen people is false and a waste of time. He’s been changing the amount of money that he claims it costs, and has been shouting “No collusion” with such intensity and frequency that you would have to be blind, deaf and dumb–in other words, a Trump supporter–to believe that he hasn’t been in bed with the Russians. A couple of years ago he claimed he wasn’t; now he’s saying that he wasn’t but, hey, if he was, he had the right to be and it was no big deal. I can assure you, whenever anyone says, Even if I did it, there was nothing wrong with it,” that means he did it and he knows damned well there’s something wrong with it.

So let’s see how his week has been going.

1). Here come the judge. Six states plus New York City provide sanctuary for immigrants, and Trump incredibly declared that he was going to cut them off from receiving public safety grants because, well, he’s a dick. Except a New York Federal Judge came back and reminded him that such a decision is completely beyond his power. Trump has still not been able to realize or accept that the powers of his office do not include the ability to come down on people just because they disagree with him. He can’t send the Justice Department after Hillary or James Comey, and he can’t unilaterally decide to withhold Federal funding just because someone isn’t as dementedly harsh against immigrants as he is. This, of course, is why he loved dictators. They can do whatever they want, get rid of whoever annoys them, and people remain loyal out of fear. That’s what he wants in this country, not a position where checks and balances rein in his attempts at spite and revenge.

2). In his defense, he does have a substantial gut. In addition to claiming that his brain is far more majestic than that of pretty much any other mortal, Trump further asserts that his gut is more knowledgeable than the brains of pretty much everyone. He asserts that his gut knows that climate change is a falsehood, despite the fact that pretty much the entire scientific community and his own investigators are telling him otherwise. He also claimed that his gut is more aware of property monetary policy than the Federal Reserve. So he basically put forward his reasons for never listening to anyone who is smarter than he is, which is–let’s face it–pretty much anyone. It seems his instincts are far more reliable than the knowledge of everybody else. I’m sure you remember the old adage about surrounding oneself with smart people who disagree with you. It doesn’t matter who Trump surrounds himself with because he remains convinced that he doesn’t need to listen to them because his gut is far more reliable. I swear, if the words “The Planet is messed up” appeared in burning letters on the Congressional dome, Trump would claim it was David Copperfield.

3). Car, Car, C-A-R. So General Motors has announced that they are firing fifteen percent of its workforce and shutting down five plants. Why? Several reasons, not the least of which is that Trump’s tariffs have driven up the price of steel. So every worker who trusted Trump to protect his or her job is getting a nice kick in the face for the holidays. Trump, meanwhile, not only takes no more responsibility for this than for the farmers who are declaring bankruptcy but instead has responded with threats. He threatened to remove GM’s electric car subsidies, which will naturally be harmful to anyone getting tax credits for buying electric cars. And he went on to announce he wants to tax foreign cars coming into the US, an idea which sucks monumentally. How would he accomplish this? By declaring that all foreign cars are a threat to national security. Yeah. Great notion.

4). A Trump lawyer lied? Inconceivable!. As Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to congress about Trump and his business contacts in Russia, Trump responded by declaring that the “Mueller witch-hunt” should be terminated. Here’s the problem with calling it a witch hunt: no one in a watch hunt ever pleaded guilty. Mueller has enough guilty pleas than an entire season of “Perry Mason.” It’s not a witch hunt; it’s a dedicated investigation that is tightening the noose around Trump’s neck every day. And he’s panicking.

Did he do anything right?. Hard to tell. He declared that he wasn’t going to meet with Putin because of Russia’s activities with the Ukraine. Except I don’t recall Trump especially giving a damn about what his beloved strong men do in order to cause trouble. Russia’s take is that it was cancelled because Cohen admitted to lying about his involvement with Russia, and considering that Trump cancelled the meeting mere hours after Cohen’s admission, I have to admit that makes a lot of sense.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – November 23, 2018

Since yesterday was turkey day, it makes sense to talk about our turkey of a president today. Let’s see what he’s been up to.

1). Disorder in the court. Trump dismissed a judge who ruled against his desire to ban migrants illegally entering the country from seeking asylum as an “Obama judge.” This is, of course, how Trump sees the world. He has no respect for the law in general and the constitution in particular, and figures that judges operate the same way. He assumes that if a judge is appointed under Obama, his rulings will all be governed by how Obama would want things done. Chief Justice John Roberts–a Republican–fired back in a rare public statement criticizing Trump, declaring that there are no Obama judges, no Trump judges, no Clinton judges, but rather justices who simply care about the law. Trump naturally fired back, declaring, “Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have “Obama judges,” and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country.” He of course offered absolutely no proof of this assertion. Naturally he didn’t need to. His followers blindly believe him, and as far as he’s concerned, any Obama-appointed judge who rules against him does so ONLY because Obama put him in place, rather than he is, you know, wrong.

Meanwhile, displaying their typical respect for the lower court, Trump’s people are trying to speed several cases challenging his banning of transgenders from serving in the military straight to the Supreme Court. They assume that the conservative court with two Trump appointees on it will fall in lockstep behind Trump’s desires. Will they be proven correct? We’ll have to wait and see, although the SCOTUS generally prefers to wait until cases work their way through the lower courts so they have the decisions and opinions of lower judges to consider and debate.

At the same time, a New York State judge dismissed Trump’s appeal against a lawsuit brought against his charitable foundation that has allegedly been violating tax laws for over a decade. Trump’s lawyers asserted that a sitting president could not be sued while failing to provide evidence (of course) that a president was immune from civil suits. Not to mention that the suit involves activities that he was up to long before the electoral college gave him the Oval Office. So not a good week for him judicially. Then again, when is it ever?

2). You remember Saudi Arabia, right? Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 attackers were Saudis. And several intelligence agencies, including the CIA, are positive that the Saudi crown prince was responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But not Trump; he continues to defend the crown prince because they buy stuff of his and that makes them swell guys in his book. And although he hasn’t said this, let’s face it: it’s not like they killed someone important. Just a journalist. Certainly a journalist isn’t worth making a big deal about.

Yet in a rare instance of bipartisan agreement, both Democrats and Republicans are shocked over Trump’s consistent refusal to take any actions, or even condemn, the Saudis. They’ve tolerated his cozying up to dictators like Putin or Kim Jong un, but this is a step too far. And you can bet that if Trump doesn’t change his tune, fast, one of the very first things the Dems will investigate come January is the reasons as to why he is coddling the Saudis. That should make for a very interesting investigation, one that even his supporters will find difficult to justify.

3). Justice for none. The New York Times broke a major story this week in which it turns out that a year or so ago, Trump wanted to order the Justice department to prosecute Hillary Clinton and James Comey. For what? Well, because they were critics of his and he didn’t like them. He apparently took the “lock her up” chants at his rallies as actually having force of law. Trump’s own top attorney, Don McGann, warned him that this was not only an unconstitutional move but one that was impeachable. On that basis Trump backed away from it, but still continued to bitch about it and advocate it in privacy.

This is of course the exact sort of thing a dictator does: use government forces to take out his opponents. In Russia or North Korea they would simply have enemies poisoned or shot or jailed. Trump would do that in a heartbeat if he could, but instead wanted to order the justice department to do it even though he simply cannot. The only thing that prevented him was concern that it would rebound to his detriment, which of course it would. That is the sort of huge idiot who currently sits in the White House.

Meanwhile the government just came out with a report agreeing that climate change is destroying the world. As of this writing, Trump hasn’t commented on it, but I think we can all agree he will likely continue to ignore it. He’s far more concerned about blaming the California forest fires on failure to rake leaves than the fact that the world’s temperature is slowly rising to unsafe levels.

Did he do anything right? Yes. He served Caesar salad at his Thanksgiving feast. Good. Maybe he ate it. The White House claimed there was no romaine lettuce in it, but we can always hope.

PAD

Happy Thanksgiving all

We’re currently cooking the turkey while vegging out on Mystery Science Theater 3000’s new season. Not going anywhere. Peaceful day.

PAD

Stan the Man

Some years ago it became stylish to trash Stan Lee.

I’m not entirely sure why. It might be because they had it right in “The Dark Knight”: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. That might have well been the situation in Stan Lee’s case.

The accusations were that Stan did nothing to promote the legendary artists who created the characters with him. The typical complaint was that Stan was rich while the others were struggling, and that was unfair, and Stan had no business being declared the co-creator of Fantastic Four or Spider-Man or the Mighty Thor or Doctor Strange or the Incredible Hulk. We were increasingly told the characters were the sole creations of the artists and horrible old Stan just stuck his name on them and tried to take all the credit. I’ll never forget when Jack Kirby stated in Comics Journal that he had gotten the idea for the Hulk by watching a news report about a frantic mother who, because she was so upset, had enough strength to lift a car that was pinning her struggling child to the ground. And Jack thought, “What if we did a hero who, when he got really angry, changed into a super strong monster!” Great idea…except in the Hulk’s origin the transition was brought about by the rise of the moon, like a werewolf. Anger had nothing to do with it and wasn’t established until years later. I’m not saying Kirby knowingly lied. I’m just saying memories can be problematic and claiming that all credit should be taken away after the fact based on differing memories is a slippery slope.

This of course also ignored the fact that while DC was still publishing comics with no creator names on the title page, Stan broke from that tradition and slapped the artists’ names right on the credits page. While DC artists labored in anonymity, Stan gave us King Kirby, Stainless Steve Ditko, Jazzy Johnny Romita, Genial Gene Colan. We would have known none of those names if it wasn’t for Stan. DC editors privately dubbed him “Stan Brag” because they thought taking credit wasn’t…I dunno…gentlemanly. At least, they thought that until they started doing it, too.

Yes, he was richer than the artists. But he was also an executive at Marvel, and spent pretty much every day of his waking life promoting the Marvel heroes, the Marvel philosophy, the Marvel artists, and the Marvel brand. He toured colleges all over the country, doing endless Q&As.

Are there still people who despise him? Oh yeah. But I think he thwarted the “Dark Knight” line because his popularity stared to swing back over the years. I believe part of it was his string of cameo appearances in the Marvel movies. Finding Stan transcended finding Hitchcock in his films. People even theorized that he was actually one guy observing the Marvel Universe, and even found affirmation of that when he was filling in the Watchers on all he’d seen in the previous films during a closing credits seen in “Guardians 2.”

Over the years Stan began to reaffirm himself as what he was: the oldest comic book fan alive. How can you keep hating somebody who was clearly just having so much fun? Whose continued presence in the films served to remind you that he was there when it started.

The Village Voice dismissed him as merely a “writer of word balloons.” Yeah, well, compare the word balloons of “Fantastic Four” with Jack Kirby and the word balloons of “New Gods” with Jack Kirby and you’ll realize what a master of dialogue he was. But it’s way more than that. The fact is that the comics industry as it currently exists would not be around if Stan had not only co-created the characters, but made Marvel Comics into what it was:

The House of Ideas.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – November 9, 2018

Remember when Trump swore to uphold the Constitution? I laughed then because I knew it was BS. This week we have two instances of Trump violating the Constitution, and naturally nothing has been done yet by the Senate (hah) or the House to stop it. Although boy, they sure have let him know it in a variety of cities where masses of people have protested. I haven’t seen such a crowd in Times Square since New Year’s Eve.

1). First Amendment? What First Amendment? . We all know that the only amendment Trump will fight for is the Second, but I should point out that the first one, the one stating that the government will keep its mitts off the right to free expression, is worth mentioning considering he’s been waging war on it since pretty much the beginning. His incessant casting of the press as the enemy of the people has many reporters concerned–and rightfully so–about their safety. It’s happening on both sides as a gang of idiots protested outside Tucker Carlson’s house, which proves once again that the left can be as blind to the First Amendment as the right…indeed, sometimes worse. Of course, the difference between the right and left is that when the left goes after Carlson, others on the left are critical and condemn them. If, on the other hand, the right went after Rachel Maddow, conspiracy theorists would declare it was actually organized by the left in order to make the right look bad.

The point is, Trump’s “enemy of the people” riff is frightening reporters, which can cause a chilling effect on the news. That’s what Trump wants, of course. Fear is his main ally, and he wants people afraid to report on him for fear of their lives.

But this week he took another step on the throat of the First Amendment by banning CNN reporter Jim Acosta from the White House press room. Why? Well, the claim is that he manhandled an intern who was trying to yank the microphone from him, “proof” of which was provided by Sarah Huckabee by circulating a doctored tape she got from a right wing conspiracy farm. This excuse was rejected by anyone who had a clear mind and a set of eyes who saw it for what it was: Acosta asking tough questions that Trump didn’t want to answer.

This was yet another chilling effect, a warning: don’t question Trump too harshly or you too will be left unable to enter the White House and do your job. If there is no purer definition of First Amendment violation than refusing to let reporters do their jobs, I really can’t think of it.

2). Advise and consent? What advise and consent? . So Trump forced Jeff Sessions to resign, an action that members of the GOP threatened would be unleashing a virtual shitstorm of trouble…a threat that they have of course walked back since. Trump then, as he should, placed Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, in charge.

Kidding, of course. Instead he replaced him with a guy who basically looks like the TV Daredevil’s Kingpin.

Now what many people are focusing on–indeed, the trigger for the various protests–is that the Kingpin has been going around on TV for months (and even wrote an editorial to the effect) that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt that should be shut down. This alone should cause him to recuse himself from overseeing it, the way that Sessions did. But he won’t do that. He’s a Trump flunky who will do whatever Trump wants him to do, which means if Mueller wants to get his report out, it’s time to write the damned thing and fast.

But the larger point is that Trump can’t appoint him. What’s supposed to happen is that Rosenstein is supposed to step in and serve while Trump waits for the Senate to reconvene so that they can run approvals on the numb nut that Trump put in charge. On a constitutional basis, the Kingpin has no power and any decisions he makes should carry no weight. So the question will become, Is the Senate going to do its job and rein in Trump? The answer is No, of course not. They haven’t in two years; why would they now?

The House, on the other hand, can and should.

3) A brand new war.. An intelligent president, when asked about the prospect of actual House oversight in the wake of the Blue Wave that washed over the legislative branch, would say “Bring it on. I’ve nothing to hide.” You know, the way Kavanaugh said when asked about…oh, wait, never mind.

But since Trump is quite possibly the least intelligent president in the history of the office, he threatened to take a “war” posture with the House and even claimed that he would have the justice department investigate Democrats who intended to do the House’s job for the first time in two years.

Naturally he doesn’t understand that he can’t do that. He can’t just order the Justice Department to investigate people for no reason whatsoever. The fact that he makes shit up and his supporters are okay with that may be fine for him in his daily existence, but the Justice Department is not going to go on fishing expeditions just because Trump is pissed off that the House Oversight Committee is actually overseeing him. Trump’s world has just gotten a whole lot more complicated, and that terrifies him because the truth is that he is a blustering coward who has a TON of things to hide and is petrified it’s all going to come out. If nothing else, there’s stuff in his tax returns that is very likely criminal and he wants to keep that under wraps.

God, let him actually achieve a first: the first POTUS to be arrested.

PAD

Why believing in falsehoods is wrong

It is so frustrating to me, and to the “enemy of the people” that the press has been falsely dubbed, that simple facts have become a thing of the past. Falsehoods are spewed about at all levels in our society, from the lowest to the highest, and are instantly accepted by the credulous. Many don’t even bother to read past a specious headline. If they see it, and especially if someone in their tribe says it, they believe it.

It turns out this is not a new concern. A philosopher named Willian Kingdon Clifford wrote a piece about it called “The Ethics of Belief.” You very likely haven’t heard of him since his writings were nearly two centuries ago, but the beliefs he asserts of what damage can be done to society if people acceptingly embrace so-called facts without challenging them basically assert that they can bring down our social mores and even our ability to interact.

There’s a fascinating article about him on Aeon. Here’s my favorite paragraph:

“What we believe is then of tremendous practical importance. False beliefs about physical or social facts lead us into poor habits of action that in the most extreme cases could threaten our survival. If the singer R Kelly genuinely believed the words of his song ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ (1996), I can guarantee you he would not be around by now.”

You can find the rest of the article here

PAD

Do Democrats hate Trump?

I’ve been seeing ads and postings claiming that Trump and the GOP care about all manner of things that are important to America whereas the Democrats just hate Trump.

Yes. That’s true. We hate Trump.

We don’t hate blacks. Or Mexicans. Spaniards or Latinos. Caravans of refugees. Immigrants. People who are American because they were born here. People who need health care. People who have pre-existing conditions. Muslims. Jews. We don’t even hate Trump supporters; while they post relentless attacks on the Dems, we mostly feel sorry for them because of their blindness.

We just hate Trump.

At least we’re focused.

Kidding.

Maybe.

PAD